In dioceses from coast to coast, the Roman Catholic Church in America has been rocked to its foundations over the last two months, as details of the largest scandal involving clergy sex abuse have burst forth from Boston.

After combing their personnel files, bishops have named dozens of previously secret alleged abusers, removing some from church ministries and turning the names of others over to authorities.

Some dioceses also announced detailed reviews of their policies, with the hope of heightening their vigilance in preventing child abuse by priests.

Dioceses have sold land and buildings to pay off settlements that are reaching into the tens of millions of dollars. Some have borrowed heavily from other dioceses or their own parishes.Insurers have put caps on coverage, while bishops have quietly paid thousands of dollars in therapy costs for abusive priests and their victims.

The nationwide financial toll of the wrongdoing is not known, since most settlements are confidential.

Some observers estimate that the American church has paid out as much as $1 billion in settlements, jury awards and treatment for pedophile priests.

Mark Chopko, general counsel for the U.S.Conference of Catholic Bishops, puts the number at closer to $250 million, but acknowledges that "it's still a whole lot of money."

Whatever the total number, news reports on individual dioceses have been staggering enough in themselves.

" The Diocese of Santa Rosa, Calif., has had to sell property and take loans or donations of at least $7 million from about half the nation's 192 dioceses to help erase a $16 million debt related to sexual misconduct.

" In 1997, a Texas jury awarded $119 million to abuse victims of former priest Rudy Kos in a suit against the Diocese of Dallas.

The award was later trimmed to about $23 million in a settlement, but the diocese had to sell property to pay $11 million that its insurance didn't cover.

" In the 1990s, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, N.M., was brought to the brink of bankruptcy and had to borrow from parish savings accounts to pay more than $50 million to settle 40 abuse cases. The diocese settled a total of 165 such cases, but won't say how much it paid to resolve them.

" Last month, the Diocese of Tucson, Ariz., said it probably will have to borrow money from a bank or from parish accounts to pay what insurers won't in the settlement of a case involving four priests accused of molesting boys.The amount of the settlement has not been revealed.

Leading the payout pack is the Archdiocese of Boston, which - even before the current furor - was reported to have settled for about $15 million an estimated 100 cases of abuse by defrocked priest John Geoghan.

But as scores of additional cases neared resolution, unsealed court documents revealed that Geoghan may have molested nearly 200 children in six parishes over a period of 30 years, while church authorities quietly moved him from assignment to assignment.

Last week, the archdiocese tentatively agreed to pay between $20 million and $30 million to settle 84 other Geoghan cases.

Several more are pending, and area attorneys have told reporters dozens of other possible clergy-abuse lawsuits are gathering steam.

The archdiocese also turned over to authorities the names of about 90 priests accused of sexual abuse since 1950 and suspended from their assignments 10 who were still active in parishes.

The diocese in New Hampshire has taken similar actions.

In Pittsburgh, Bishop Donald Wuerl reviewed the personnel files of 464 diocesan priests, a diocesan spokesman said last week, and removed several clergymen from the ministry because of accusations of child sex abuse.

The spokesman wouldn't say how many priests had been removed, but said it happened recently, in response to the Boston revelations.

Officials in five of Pennsylvania's eight dioceses revealed that 58 priests had faced credible abuse allegations since the'50s.

Treating the alleged abusers can add significantly to the church's expenses.

Bishops customarily pay therapy costs for priests suspected of sexual misconduct. Counseling at institutes that treat clergy costs up to $350 a day, with an average stay lasting between four and seven months, according to the Rev. Stephen Rosetti, a psychologist and consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Several dioceses, including Santa Rosa and the Archdiocese of New Orleans, have also paid counseling costs for abuse victims. Such payments contributed to the huge deficit in Santa Rosa.

Insurers, meanwhile, are seeking to limit their liability in sexual misconduct cases. In cases of large settlements, the insurer and the diocese usually end up in court over how much the policy covers.The diocese's defense costs -which can be in the millions of dollars -often aren't fully covered by insurance.